Rigging 1:1200 Napoleonic Ships

Hi Tom

 I use two types. The first is a Coats Transparent single strand Polyester its very fine smaller than the 6/0. Strong enough to rig with and more firm than thread. It retains a bit of its shape and I find it easier to thread, but harder to tie off. For thread I picked up a rigging thread from Ray & Robins Its UNI-Thread W6/0 its nearly as fine as the Polyester. Its a little fiddly to thread but easy to tie off. The poly will not fuzz up like normal thread and the UNI-Thread is treated. Your avreage threads will attract dust and will look horrible with time(well at lest the Revell ships I did in my youth do). At 1/1200 6/0 is fine I don't rig the entire running and standing sets just those that will secure your masts and jib just as they do the real thing. The GHQ 74 gun is a better cast for the Constitution but I prefer the Langton Masts and sails much more robust. My Spanish and French fleets are painted and awaiting rigging. The Royal Navy aside of the Royal Sovereign is still in "Blister". My goal is 16 ships of the line engaged in battle Huzzah! 2012.

Hope that helps
Wayne

  For tying off the thread/lines, have you considered a fine curved suture needle? You can buy these in packs from most medical supply stores, and also on ebay.  Alternately, you could use a fine curved embroidery needle too.

  When I was building the GHQ ships many many years ago, I primarily used  very fine piano wire cut and clued into place.

  V/R

I prefer wire to string.  I rig my 1/600 scale ships using brass wire. Make them strong and avoids the drooping line's syndrome that will happen with string because of the soft lead mast.

I get your points wire would be more durable but there's great satisfaction in actually rigging the ship. At 1/1200 it looks fantastic and if properly done their is no sag. By securing them first to the hull aft then foward to the base of the mast ahead it can be made tight. To each his own, thread or wire as you will, I still say run out the lines and make em fast. A finished Langton ship of the line is as much a miniature fine model as a game piece. I've painted many a miniature over the years and consider these my master works.

Wayne

For  great read's on the USS Constitution I recommend "Six Frigates" by Ian Toll and "A Most Fortunate Ship" by Tyrone Martin.

 Wayne,

  I agree with what you are saying. When I was building them, they were for convention games with folks who might not have had the same "gentle hands" as I did.  :)

 And every child in at least High School should be required to read "Six Frigates". Lets them know where our Navy came from, and why it's important to our nation.

Oh get that if and when they get to the table there will be a reading of the riot act and perhaps even a age requirement

 Check out "A Most Fortunate Ship". Written buy a former Commander with a narrative that speaks to sailors past, present and future.

"Honor Courage Commitment"

Wayne,

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll use the 6/0 thread I have for fly tying. Most of what I have is labled as Uni Thread. I think Uni Thread is nylon. We use it for tying flies because it dosen't streach or rot after getting wet.

I think the GHQ casting is better by a long shot. No extra flange material, no pitting or seams from the casting to file. Very crisp. I may go back to GHQ after finishing the Langton's I bought. Everybody raves about Lanton so I purchased them instead.

I am using the the Rustoleum Automobile Primer you mention in your tutorial. I find it hard to control the amout of paint applied. I usually have to use more than one pass to get all of the object being primed. Also, no matter how much I shake the can I still get some small "blobs" of paint once in awhile. I made the mistake of using a hot air gun used for shrinking the covering I use on my balsa RC model airplanes. It was ok for the hull. It really shrinks the excess spray quickly. However, I melted one of the sails into oblivion with it. Had to "borrow" one from one of the other Frigates to replace the one I melted. Next time I'll have to be more careful. 

I surmise from the picture in your tutorial you use Krylon Mat Finish to seal the paint once the painting is complete. Should I use the same thing?

Thanks,

Tom S.

Your welcome. I do occasionally get a bad can of primer I use it at 10-12 inches with 2 light coats as long as its not a full flood it usually shrinks up nicely.

Don't give up on the langton's the masts are more detailed and more importantly very durable. They take the drilling and rigging better, the GHQ masts a quite soft. Your could buy the Langton masts and rat lines and use them on the GHQ hulls if you wanted to.

As for the mat sealer I find the Krylon just as good as Dullcoat and a better value. Use it lightly to much and you will get a satin finish.

Wayne

Hello Wayne,

Thanks for the useful information. If mine come out half as nice as yours look I will be happy.

One other question: I Like the way you labled your ship. I'm going to use the same method. We are going to use an old set of rules I have from the 70's called "Ship of the Line". It calls for 1 1/2" X 3" squares for 1:1200 ships. I bought the Langton bases that match that dimension as close as possible. I'm going to mount them on 3mm thick cherry and use a fine band saw to trim to size. I found the magnetic strips for the label at the craft store. So after all this verbiage the question is. How did you get the pictue of the flag on the label? Did you use an application like "paint brush" or something? I'm an analog guy living in what has become a digital world. So these things are not intrinsic to my psyche. I hate computers. Only use them when I have to.   

Thanks,

Tom

Well to be honest I cheat the lettering is a from my printer but its not really capable quality color so I use.   http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Aeronef/Flags.html    that's it. They sell them in sheets of 40 two sided self adhesive for .80 a sheet. I placed a order last year for $14 and have enough to use on my 1/3000 WWII, 1/6000 WWI and 1/1200 Fleets and still have some left!

We started with Trafalgar for rules and have moved on to Signal Close Action.

Wayne

Got a hard copy of "Six Frigates" off the internet for my personal library. Wonder how I missed it when it first came out. Great Book. I have a copy of "A Most Fortunate Ship" and several others covering the same era in my library.

It is a sorry and sobering thing to read a High School text book today. They spend pages on the McCarthy  era and little more than a paragraph on George Washington. A visit to the local county college library is not encouraging either. The American History section was sparse at best. I have a better personal library. We are giving up our national culture to the Freudian, Rogerian, Darwinian, Multi Cultural drivel, of the pseudo intellectual elites of the hallowed halls of secular humanism. Oh for the days of Davy Crockett, Roy Rogers, Rin Tin Tin etc.

Tom  

Checked out the website. Great stuff. Hate to bother them with a $2.00 order. It looks like they allow you to copy the flags from the site as long as you don't sell them.

I am now engaged in trying to get the dry brush tecnique down for the sails. I used a bone white base as per the tutorial and will dry brush Valejo White over that. I'm a little nervous about ruining the sail if it doen't come out to my satisfaction. I guess I can strip it and paint it over again.

Tom